Cloud computing is one of the fastest growing trends in computer technology. Often advertised as the “Cloud,” cloud computing means slightly different things to different people depending on the context. Nevertheless, most definitions suggest that cloud computing is a compelling way to deliver computer services to business organizations, allowing for rapid scale and predictable cost modeling in the deployment and management of applications.
By one definition, cloud computing is a methodology for delivering computational resources to consumers as a single service, rather than as discrete components. Computational resources, such as physical hardware, data storage, network, and software are bundled together in predictable, measurable units and delivered to consumers as complete offerings. Often, these offerings are delivered with tools to help consumers deploy and manage their applications with ease. Applications that best take advantage of cloud computing environments can scale quickly and utilize computing resources easily everywhere the cloud computing environment exists.
Companies that build private cloud computing environments can improve the deployment time for new and growing applications, and at the same time control and better understand the cost of the services provided. Private cloud computing environments are most often built on uniform hardware, utilize virtualization software, and feature monitoring and diagnostic tools to manage and measure usage of the environment.
To better understand this model, consider a project manager asking a company's IT department for a web server for its application. In the traditional model, the project manager would have to provide information about what hardware, disk, geographic location, web server software version, etc. was required specifically for his application. He would wait for various teams to assemble the product by hand and deliver it to him for application deployment.
Public cloud computing environments offered by companies to businesses and individuals offer a complimentary cloud computing model. AMAZON WEB SERVICES™ MICROSOFT® AZURE™, and SAVVIS® Symphony are examples of such public cloud computing environments. Users consume computing resources and pay for those resources based on a uniform rate plus fees for usage. This utility model, similar to how a power company charges for electricity, is attractive to businesses seeking to operationalize certain IT costs. A savvy IT department may wish to utilize both private and public cloud computing environments to best meet the needs of business.
It traditionally takes weeks to procure and provision computing resources. Project managers, etc. determine their hardware and software requirements, create requisitions to purchase resources, and work with IT organizations to install and implement solutions. Organizations that implement a distributed computing model with a service provisioning solution can streamline this process, control cost, reduce complexity, and reduce time to solution delivery.
Currently, there are three prevailing types of cloud computing service delivery models: infrastructure-as-a-service, platform-as-a-service, and software-as-a-service. Infrastructure-as-a-service is a service delivery model that enables organizations to leverage a uniform, distributed computer environment, including server, network, and storage hardware, in an automated manner. The primary components of infrastructure-as-a-service include the following: distributed computing implementation, utility computing service and billing model, automation of administrative tasks, dynamic scaling, desktop virtualization, policy-based services and network connectivity. This model is used frequently by outsourced hardware service providers. The service provider owns the equipment and is responsible for housing, running, and maintaining the environment. Clients of these service providers pay for resources on a per-use basis. This same model may be leveraged by private organizations that wish to implement the same model for internal business units. Infrastructure-as-a-service is a foundation on which one may implement a more complex platform-as-a-service model, in which the deployment business systems may be modeled and automated on top of infrastructure resources.
An organization may use the cloud computing model to make resources available to its internal clients or external clients. Regardless of how an organization may use the infrastructure, it would be beneficial to have a system and method of deploying resources quickly and efficiently; one where design and delivery are based on performance and security criteria best suited for enterprise needs. One where the developer may merely ask for and receive a web server from IT, with time to delivery, cost of the implementation and the quality of end product predictable and repeatable with costs often lower than a traditionally supplied product. The features of the claimed system and method provide a solution to these needs and other problems, and offer additional significant advantages over the prior art.